Hey, what`s going on guys? I want to talk a little bit about some misconceptions that
there are in pitching and how to teach pitching or how to learn pitching. There`s obviously
many different philosophies out there on how to deliver the baseball on the pitcher`s mound,
but I feel like there`s a lot of misconceptions when it comes to the mechanics of it and some
things that I think are just flat out wrong. So, today, we`re going to talk about the 11
major misconceptions of pitching. Number one is that you can throw faster from
the wind up that you can from the stretch. Now, this is untrue, you should be able to
throw the same speed from both, the wind up and the stretch. I think guys who feel like
they throw faster from the wind up feel that way because they are loading their hips and
they have more momentum going towards home. If this is the case, then you really need
to focus on working from the stretch because that`s the most important, you never have
to pitch from the wind up, but you have to pitch from the stretch when there`s a runner
on. So, if you`re that guy who feels better from the wind up than the stretch, you need
to work more on the stretch and work on loading those hips more and be able to generate just
as much energy as you do from the wind up. Number two is that you need to come to a balance
point so lifting that leg straight up, pausing up top and then pitching. Again, this goes
back to loading your hips. Instead of a balance point, I think what a lot of great pitchers
do is when they start lifting that leg, they also break their hips, so they kind of load
their weight over their back side which gives a more energy to go towards the plate. So,
here`s the balance point versus a good load. Number three is that you should point your
front arm towards your target when you`re pitching. This is not true as well, you`ll
see a lot of the great pitchers in the game, when they break their hands, they're are at
least 45 degrees closed off or more. I made a video about this in more detail so I`ll
leave that link right here. But when you go to your target like this you lose all of that
torque, you have no torque, everything is here and what I see a lot of young guys doing
is when they go straight to the target, when they try to get this arm coming through, everything
flies open. So, better off teaching them to start 45 degrees or more off, like they are
going to need to as they get older and for you older guys, you need to be there already.
But, get them in the habit of that, so now, they`re closed off and they can open up and
get to their target. Number four, you shouldn`t lean back when
pitching. This is untrue. You`ll see, when guys come down that mound, and if they have
a good load, when they`re pitching, when they get out to landing, they`re going to have
an angle on their shoulders, ok? And they`re going be leaning back, is from this point
that you want to transfer that weight going forward so that you can get over your front
leg. But, if you`re leaning forward while trying to stay balanced everything is going
to be out front and you`re going to be leaving your arm behind. So you definitely should
have a lean back when you`re pitching. Now, you don`t want it to be too much of a lean
because then you`re defeating the purpose there too, so, if you`re like this, obviously,
way too much. But if you load your hips correctly, and you come down that way, you`ll definitely
going to have an angle on your shoulders. Number five, you should push really hard early
off on the rubber when you`re pitching. Now, you do get your energy from your legs but
I believe that you need to set your angle first, ride it and then push through, your
leg drive happens later in the mechanics than it does earlier. Think about car. If you got
a new car and you just slam on the gas right away, what are you going to do, you`re going
to spin out. Same thing with pitching, if you get up here and you really just drive
off this mound early, you`re going to be leaving anything behind, OK? So what you want to do,
and it goes back to the load again, is set your hips, load it up, ride it and then drive
through, OK? The drive happens after you have ridden the angle that you have created in
your back leg about half way or three quarters away down that mound.
Number six, you need to tuck your glove in when you`re pitching. This is false as well,
you`ll see a lot of the best hitters, excuse me, pitchers, when they are pitching, after
they turn that glove over, coming in, it kind of chicken wings a little bit, but when they
get here, that glove stays out, elbow comes in, glove stays out and now, the best pitchers,
when they get that extension try to bring their chest to the glove to finish it versus
pulling that thing in. Here, I`ll show you the two differences.here's me pulling this
in, a little bit too rotational, falling off this way, probably going to be yanking a lot
of balls down there versus what I call blocking off. Bring the elbow in and then taking the
chest to the glove. Now, the reason why you want to block off is because that is what
it`s going to stop your rotational energy. If you don`t block off, you can keep rotating,
if I pulls this in, I can keep rotating and I have nothing to getting back in the straight
line but if I block off, I`m rotating, block, now all my energy comes back in the straight
line when I finish. Number seven, you should reach out as far
as you can out straight up and front to your release point. This is another one I hear
all the time which is false, ok? I did a video called The perfect release point or something
like that, I`ll leave a link for that as well right here so watch that one. But, where the
perfect release point is, is going to be, if you have a line straight up from your heel,
up your butt, up your back, through your arm, right here. Glove is going to be out, chest
is going to be going down towards it and that`s going to be your perfect release point. You`re
going to have a little bit of bend in your knee so that`s not going to be on your line
but the line is going to go straight up the heel, butt, back and arm. If you`re too far
back, you`re releasing it too far back. If you`re trying to really get up straight this
way, you`re too far forward. So the best way to see that is set a camera just like where
this camera is on my open side, throw some pitches and then see where that release point
is, get it on slow motion or something and see where your release point is.
Number eight, you should bend your front leg when you land to get a better release point.
This is also wrong. And this is one of the hardest thing to teach or coach in the pitching
mechanics, ok? I believe that a lot of the harder throwers get to a closer straight leg
at the release point. And if you watch that release point video that I left a link for
it in the last, but I`ll leave it again here, you`ll see that as well. The guys who have
the best release points are firm on their front leg on release point. If they`re not
straight, fully straight, they are very close to it, maybe a slight bend but they are very
strong and they are pitching against that front leg. So you don`t want to collapse and
let your weight go through it kind of walk through your release point, you want to pitch
against that front leg and almost use it like a pole vault to get over it, use it as leverage,
just like as blocking off with your glove is your block or your leverage for the rotation
of the pitch to stop the rotation of the pitch, the leg is the blocking or the leverage of
the linear energy of the pitch so you have to pitch against that front leg to get the
leverage and energy out through the baseball. Number nine, you throw faster the longer you
stride. This is another big misconception in pitching and it`s kind of true and kind
of not and the way I want to explain that it`s not directly related to how fast you
throw, meaning if you`re a guy and you`re pitching and you stride five and a half feet
out, let`s say for instance, if you go further than that, that doesn`t mean necessarily that
you`re going to be throwing faster, OK, automatically. Now, I think more importantly than the longer
stride, is going to be how you put everything together. I`ve seen guys with very short strides
that throw close to a hundred miles an hour, some over a hundred miles an hour, with very,
very short strides. And when they get longer, they can`t throw as hard, because something
in their kinetic chain is not working together, their timing is off or something, OK? Now,
with that being said, I think hip to shoulder separation is going to be more important than
how far your stride is. And when hip to shoulder separation is how good of a stretch you can
get or how separation you can get from your hip when you`re coming forward to your shoulder
in the back. How much stretch, how much of that rubber band, how much of that torque
can you get in your delivery. So I think that`s going to play more of a direct response to
velocity than is stride length and you have to find a comfortable stride length to where
you can put everything together from your back foot all the way through the kinetic
chain of your body, into your hip to shoulder separation and up through that arm. For some
guys is different, some guys feel comfortable on a shorter stride and go put that all together
some can throw a little bit faster in a longer stride. Now, like in the beginning I said
it's kind of true what you said, because if that same guy who takes a shorter stride can
put everything together in a little bit longer of a stride he's probably going a little bit
faster, but it doesn`t always work that way. Number ten you should finish it in a good
fielding position. How many guys do you hear saying that? How many coaches do you hear
saying that, especially the younger players, when you finish, get here and finish right
here. That is impossible if you`re generating enough energy going through your mechanics
so you are at the best, you`re going to be a little bit staggered when you hit that front
leg. You see guys in the big leagues falling all over the place, going this way, going
that way now I don`t recommend teaching the young players that but, at the same time,
you can`t just have them going through the motions and coming right here, because they
will never learn how to generate energy, OK? So, that`s a big misconception. I really think
it`s good for guys to really let it go a few times and see how it feels to get over that
front leg and in a natural fashion. And number eleven, pitchers aren`t athletes.
I hate when people say that because we are athletes. If you think about it, when you`re
younger, the guys who can throw very well were usually the best athletes and they ended
up being pitchers. So don`t let anyone tell you, if you`re a pitcher, that you`re not
an athlete, because you are, OK? And if you take something that someone says or you buy
into it and you believe it, then you are. If someone tells you that and you think you`re
not an athlete, you`re not going to be an athlete but if you say, you know what, I am
an athlete and you buy into it and you commit to it, you can be as athletic or more athletic
than the rest of the guys on the team, off of the pitchers mound. Shoot, you need to
be to field your position out front so pitchers are athletes and you need to tell yourself
that. Remember, whether you believe you can or you believe you can`t, you`re right.
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